Bolton: Trump Has Already Given In to Putin
Former National Security Advisor John Bolton stated Wednesday on CNN’s The Source that former President Donald Trump has "effectively surrendered" to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
During the interview, host Kaitlan Collins recalled Bolton’s past remarks describing Trump as an “easy mark” for Putin and asked for his expectations regarding their upcoming meeting.
Bolton responded, “I don’t have any expectations anymore. We already know what’s going to happen. Trump has effectively surrendered to Putin before negotiations have even started. The terms outlined by Defense Secretary Hegseth in Brussels—which I’d be shocked if Trump hadn’t already communicated to Putin in their phone call—are essentially a Kremlin-scripted settlement. Maybe they even originated from Russian propaganda channels. This represents a complete reversal of the U.S. and NATO’s longstanding positions on key issues.”
He continued, “Until today, the official American stance was that Ukraine should be fully sovereign and maintain its territorial integrity. That position is now gone. The commitment that Ukraine would eventually join NATO, in place since 2008, also appears to have been abandoned. Today, Putin has secured a series of victories.”
Bolton concluded, “Putin doesn’t want to negotiate with Zelensky—he wants to negotiate with Trump because he knows he’ll get more out of him. And he’s absolutely right.”